Aww, I really like this cover X3

I do to!!!

Crystal’s eyebrows lifted ever so slightly and her expression turned appreciative when the Elemental addressed her. “Thank you too, Boreas,” she said, her tone hinting that it was much more than any simple thanks.. Truth be told, out there in the city today, had it not been for Boreas and his calm, collected demeanor, and Jason with his optimistic personality and outlook on things despite all that was happening, she wasn’t sure she would have gotten to this point or kept herself together this long..

She gave a little wave goodbye and watched Boreas and Penelope leave, her mind momentarily wondered, ‘A temple of the Silver Moons..? Hmm..’ but before too long her gaze found it’s way to the floor at her feet. ‘What a day..’ she thought, quietly taking in and letting out a big breath.

Morning Glory stays quiet for a little while too, being able to tell how tired poor Crystal is. "... I'm so glad we found this place," is what she says when she finally does say something, trying to make some small talk , "I think just about everyone will be needing a nap now, hmm?"

The red king glace over to the tiny Bellezza when she spoke, he noticed that she was now in a bowl and his mind went to wasn't she eating from that? But this bowl was bigger wasn't it? He opened his mouth to ask a question but stopped himself seen no one speak to him and he didn't want to interrupt, so he went back to watching, this time staring at the human girl... she like many other felt familiar but if that because of Crimson he did not know but one thing he did, was that this girl was special...

As Penelope led Boreas through the halls once more, the Icy Elemental made a bit of small talk with the Bellezza. He did ask a few questions, but held off on his bigger ones--they both had business to attend to.
...One question he did ask in particular was what foods they had available, though.

When they arrived at Fiona's room, Boreas thanked Penelope and she went on her way. He greeted the attendants inside, introduced himself, and finally found his niece for the first time since the ice cream box.

Which may not have been that long, in retrospect, but it felt like it had been quite a while.

" wait, what?!" Catch echoed his brother shock.

Malice just Shrugged, he didn't understand souls or what was an afterlife and why it matter " that I do not know nor do I care, I simply know Soledormir delight in consuming Souls " Malice tap a claw on the rim of the bathtub " what I would care to know is why now? Why set free the soul now? When any time would be just as chaotic"

Weaver's grimace deepens at that comment, but he stops to think for a moment about it. "... Maybe because he knew the Keyhunters are here to stop him?" he thinks out loud. "He knows we're after him?"

" perhaps, but the key hunters have not proven capable of stopping him so I have my doubts that he see them as threat, Soledormir knows he is an alpha predator, he has no need to worry" Malice huffed

Weaver narrows his eyes at Malice, and nearly snaps back at Malice, but he holds his tongue, and only growls, "Hnngg..." He crosses his arms and thinks to himself, //We'll prove him wrong, we'll turn things around, I know we will! We're going to save the Realms, whether Soledormir thinks we will or not!//
"Well... Whatever," Weaver finally mumbles, breathing out a sigh to try and calm himself down some, then he looks to Catch and asks, "Do you have any ideas?" ... But as he looks at his brother, he very quickly remembers just how tired he is, so now he starts to wonder if he should've asked that question at all...

Even with his exhaustion Dreamcatcher had been doing his best to pay attention, he looked up at his brother " I don't know... maybe he had to wait? "

" like what though? If Sol was some big powerful thing, couldn't he just do whatever he wanted?" Anna added her two cents into the conversation as well.

" I don't think so... if he really could do you think the kings would have even had a chance? I wonder if Soledormir wasn't as powerful as made himself seem?" Catch replied.

" I would be careful with those words... " Malice growled " Soledormir does indeed possess powers far beyond what you know, he is a master planer and you and your party are but dolls for him to toy with, you thinking that you are not, only shows that you are already being used "

Weaver huffs at Malice's comment, and then pauses for a moment. "... Well, I will say for one thing, bad guys /really/ don't like it when someone finds their flaws, or finds them weak..." he mutters, trying to make a slight remark back to Malice too, but he sighs again, and relents, saying, "But, I guess that's another thing to keep in mind to figure out later, I don't think we have the ability to think that hard right now... Anna, if you wanna take notes on that, that'd be great. As for now.... Well, Malice, you know about the Dreamers' souls, what about their hearts? Do you have any idea where those could be?"

During the small window of silence, the girl gingerly picked at the edge of one of the bandages from earlier, lifting it just enough to get a look at the wound underneath before putting it back with a small grimace on her face. She’d have to ask about getting these cleaned up after a bit, now that the adrenaline from earlier was wearing off she was beginning to feel how sore they were.

When Glory spoke, Crystal nodded thoughtfully at first, “It is great you guys came across this place, especially after today.” She then gave a small ‘Mhm’ sound in agreement with what was said about napping, “Most likely. It’ll be nice to get cleaned up and try to rest at some point.”

She went to look over at Glory again, but inevitably took a glance at Crimson in the process and froze when she saw his green eye staring in her direction. A concerned look crossed her face and after a moment she blinked, her hands, placed on her lap, fidgeting a bit as she watched and studied him in return. Crystal wasn’t sure if she should she say anything, or just stay quiet.. Would it do any good either way? She didn’t know what to even say to begin with, but she did feel the need to do one thing, which was to apologize.. just in case. “S-sorry if we woke you..”

Morning Glory nods back to Crystal with a big, but also sympathetic smile on her face. She doesn't say anything right away, and when she notices Crystal and the Red King staring at each other, she even more so chooses not to say anything. Instead, she begins asking herself, //Oh, he's awake again, and his eye is still green... How's this going to be? What will he think of Crystal? Will she be ok...?//

Fiona was... /Somewhat/ asleep. She tossed and turned, even making some rather unhappy-sounding noises every once in a while.

//Not sleeping well, hm?// Boreas thought, //Can't blame you, kid...//
He hoped that if Fiona did wake up while he was there, she'd be in good enough shape to have a little talk. While he waited, Boreas considered what else he could do...

First off, he needed to get something to eat--so he gave his request to one of the nearby staff. He was very thankful for their hospitality.
Then, after a moment, he noticed the quite large pile of items on a nearby table. In fact, it was hard /not/ to notice. Fiona's armor and Shockwave were included, so he knew it had to be her belongings.

//...Does she still have that?//

That made a lot of sense to the Dreamer prince, no one like their faws to be known and what little he knew about Soledormir was he was this overwhelming power...however Faithful found away to stop him but Weaver was right, Catch wasn't in the condition to think very deeply right now. " no, not really...I'll do what I can though "

Anna gave Weaver a playful salute " I will do my duty!" She then started to take down mental notes on the conversation.

This was a topic the Nightmare king had been trying to avoid, maybe he could dance around it? What would knowing about the Dreamers hearts really help them anyway? All a heart did for him was make his life more difficult... with that tough, maybe he should tell them? It probably would cause them problems// Ughhh... this is aggravating// Malice though to himself, he still wasn't feeling well and his mind was kinda broken still.

Malice tape the tub with the end of his chain " there is a problem in that... yes I do know what happens to the Dreamers hearts, I am one of the few who dose... I am a living curse and like all curse they need fuel, something needs to be sacrifice.... Void had the Souls but the hearts were given to me and I eat them in a way.... they get absorbed and become fuel for the Nightmare curse...so you may be able to see were we have a problem "

Weaver only glances at Catch and Anna after he asked his questions, and then, with his arms still crossed, he frowns deeply. "Oh... That... That is a problem," he mumbles, then asks more questions, "How exactly does that work? You eat the hearts... So... What happens to them?"

The red king studied the girl, she looked familiar but like many of the others he could not remember, was she someone he knows or was she someone the young man knew?... he noticed how she had her arm wrapped and was picking at it, he wondered if she was hurt and in some way knew she was...but he stayed quiet, there was never any reason to speak anyway but then the girl looked at him and then apologized, this caught the Red King off guard, he opened his mouth but no words came out, what does he say? He looks down as he pondered her question, was he even awake? It felt more like a dream to him " ... you...you have nothing to apologize for... If anything I should be the one to apologize, I... I am not accustomed to this state of being... of being awake? " he glace up at the girl, everything was foreign to him, seeing colors and smells, even touching didn't seem like things of reality to him, to him this seem more like a dream and a world without colors, touch and smells was normal.

It would be a lie to say a small part of Crystal hadn’t hoped.. Hoped it would be Crimson, even though she knew better.. She was so worried about him, finding him had been a big part of her motivation ever since she heard he was out in the city, and now here they were, but it wasn’t him.. It would also be a lie to say it wasn’t hard to see him and hear him, but not be able to hold his hand or ask him if he was okay.. Because it wouldn’t be Crimson she was talking to, and in a sense it wouldn’t be his hand she was holding..

Of course, the girl wanted whoever this was to be okay too, they didn’t seem bad or deserving of bad things as far as she could tell, but.. there was still a twinge of sadness that grasped at her heart.

After the response, Crystal briefly looked down, taking a shaky breath and biting at her lip, trying to think of what to say back.. When she soon looked up again, she gave a small, kind smile.. The best one she could muster up at the given moment. “That’s.. that’s okay. I just.. wanted to make sure we weren’t being too loud.”

Crystal had a handful of questions, like where did this person come from? Why did he say and seem so unsure when saying ‘state of being awake’? Simply who was he in general..? But ultimately she thought it would be better to wait to ask, she didn’t want and wasn’t going to bombard him with questions she was sure the others already asked, especially since he just woke up.

Glory watched the two of them, rather sadly, but she figures she'll let them talk some, unless she feels the need to step in.

Boreas made sure those at work around him were fine with him going through the items they had collected from Fiona and piled together so nicely. Thanks to info spreading about he and Fiona's family ties, they were. Thus, he started his search, encountering many an object he didn't expect.

//XXL raincoat... Knife... Of the kitchen variety. Tiara?
Bottle of... Mac n' cheese.

Interesting.//

Eventually, he did find what he was looking for: a blue and purple hardcover book with an all too familiar bolt symbol on it, along with two new notebooks. //Huh... Well, if I still know Fi, she's documented her adventures in one or all...// He found a chair beside his niece's bed and sat down, immediately sinking into it, like how the fact that he was tired sank into his mind. //Yup. Not moving for a while. Glad I grabbed these first.//

With that thought, he opened Fiona's diary, and started reading.

Malice made a deep grumbling sound before he continued his explanation " the hearts are absorbed into what Soledormir called ' the black hearts of malice' which are in a simple way to put it, the anchor points of the curse.... over time the Dreamer hearts dissolve within the evil and become that of a potent disease that infects other Dreamers hearts to further feed itself "
Malice points a chain at the young Nightmare " this Weaver heart, would be locked within one of my black hearts and being turned into a curse... however the process is slow unless the Nightmare population drops and more are needed to be made "

Dreamcatcher grimaced, this was awful to hear but it did bring up some questions, ones he wasn't sure if he should ask outloud // Weaver.... what are these hearts? And...and if there actually the actually the source of the curse do you think we'd be able to reverse it if we get the Dreamer hearts back? It couldn't be that simple could it?//

//I... I don't know,// Weaver admits, //I mean, that might be part of it, but we'd have to make sure there's no way for any Dreamer hearts to end up in something like this again, so no one can turn into a Nightmare again...// After saying that to Catch telepathically, he then takes his right hand and rubs the top of his head, blurting his next thoughts out loud. "So the curse eats away at Dreamers, when they turn, their souls go to Void's heart, and their hearts or their emotions go and get eaten by Malice, in his hearts? But you have multiple hearts? What even are your hearts? Are they crystals like Void's heart? Does Void have multiple hearts? If you have multiple hearts, he probably does. But, then the Dreamers that give up get eaten by Soledormir, and the hearts dissolve into evil--so are those emotions just gone, and we've got souls who feel nothing? Or is it that they're twisted into evil emotions? That's happening to my emotions right now...? How're we going to get everyone their hearts and souls back without messing up Malice too? How do we... Ugh, I need a nap..." He progressively got a bit quieter as he had gone on, and now he glances down at the floor, tempted by the thought of sitting down. Knowing that's probably not a good idea, all things considered, he then asks one other thing as he looks back to the King, "Malice, I have another question, what happens to Nightmares when they sleep...?"

At first Malice listen quietly to the young Nightmare but when it became obvious that Weaver was rambling Malice grew more and more annoyed until he's snapped " just shut up!" The Nightmare king gave a frustrating glare " I don't know how many hearts Void would have but if I have more then one I would assume he has more as well, but to know the full extent you have to ask my mother, she is the one who made me "
Catch had flinched when the Nightmare king snapped but his fear turned to more confusion with what he said last " your... your mother?"

" yes my blasted mother!" Malice growled and then slumped down in the bathtub, he keep his front paws crossed on the rim and his head resting on them " but she not important right now, about your last question, I would not advise with you sleeping if you can help it..." he placed one of his wings out so that they could get a better look at the odd spider web patterns with the tiny glowing stars " when a Nightmare sleeps they are reconnect to the curse in which they are to me, each one of these Stars upon my wing is a Nightmare that I am linked to... it tells me the most valuable information about them, how much power they have, there class, when they were born and the moment they die... when A Nightmare sleeps they unknown send me this information and in return the contract is enforced within them "

The uncertainty and sadness that hung in the room weighted on the red king, he knew this feeling was because of him.... he wasn't their friend, their friend who they cared about.

The red king looked at his hands, this was not his body, he knew he didn't have one "... no...no you were fine, I am use to voices more often it is noise... I am not sure what has woken me...this has never happened before...but I am sorry...I...I-I" the red king voice cracked as he remembered what the Bellezzas of death said, he was dead, whoever he was, but he knew he shouldn't be talking, he shouldn't be here not when this body belongs to someone else, someone people care about " i-t should not be me here but your friend......I... I do not know why he still sleeps and why I am not...I'm sorry..."

Weaver flinches when Malice snaps at him, and indeed goes quiet afterwards, listening to what's being said. //He has a mom?// is his thoughts first, but then he lets out a quiet sigh when Malice advises against sleeping. "... So the curse would get stronger if I went to sleep... That sounds like something that'd give Eater more control over me than he already has," he quietly remarks, "And here I was just afraid of Nightmares having nightmares... Though..." With that, Weaver pauses, not sure whether to stay on that topic, or change it. He's kinda curious about something Malice said, and does take a few steps forward to get a closer look at his wing. "... That's pretty cruel, that the Nightmares show up as stars on your wings, but... Mind if I ask where am I on here? If Nightmares connect to this through sleeping, has Eater messed it all up because he hasn't slept in all this time?" he finally asks, trying to use somewhat of a quieter tone still with the hope of not annoying Malice too much.

Malice took his chains and raised them in a makeshift shrug " I am Malice, my existence is to slander and be a mockery to your kind, it no surprise that Soledormir would take something that is viewed as sacred and twist it " The Nightmare king then raised an eyebrow at the question " I have no reason in answering this but, seeing we are trying to be allies I will entertain you with my discomfort " he then took his other wing, he was slower in moving it and couldn't open it as much as the other one but what he did was all he needed, taking the end of his chain Malice pointed to a light that flickered, it faded in and out compared to many of the others who stood as steady glows " this annoying spot is you.... it has not moved since it appeared, I can since your power increase however by your star you have not changed.... I have no doubt that if you were to sleep your star would moved from this place of an Beta to that of an Alpha.... however the odd flickering has not just been your star... others had appeared around the same time as your began"

Dreamcatcher was equally concerned about Weaver sleeping but he was also concerned in what the Nightmare king said " dose that mean those stars are all Nightmares who the Dreamers souls went back to?"

" this is one as well "Malice pointed to a different star, at first it didn't seem different but after staring long enough it did seem to shift just so slightly " however none are as obnoxious as Dreameater's, his aggravates the contract, no Nightmare has gone this long without without being restored, madness claims any Nightmare who does not have the contract reinforced, which leads to their death"

Catch grimaced at that, he rubbed the back of his head " soo... are you also saying that Eater going to go nuts if he doesn't sleep?... I guess that explains why he kinda nutty to..." this wasn't the Dreamer biggest concern, he knew the exhaustion he had was more then his own, and he wondered just how long his brother could last? He already went a year without sleeping, that couldn't be good for him, but it sounded like sleeping wouldn't be ether, however if he did sleep what would happen? Maybe in knowing they be able to prepare " I do have a question to, what would happen if Weaver were to sleep? Besides what you just told us, is there anything else we should know that could happen?"
Malice lower his chain and rested his wings, letting them droop across the bathtub "Hmm... " he hadn't had to explain these things before to other Nightmare, they just happened, but this was a special case "When Nightmares enter a deep sleep we experience 'echoes,' the memories of our former self, most memories are of when we came to be or events that follow our contract, killing the loved ones or memories of hate and jealously, these are all effects of the link with their contract and to me, an ever lasting torment, even for monsters and yet, this is our life, there is no need to question it"

Watching and listening to this person, Crystal picked up on a couple things, and she felt so sorry for him. How terrifying it must feel to be in a body that isn’t yours without knowing why, not understanding what happened to cause the situation and being unable to fix it.

The girl was quiet for a minute, thinking things through the best she could, a particular thought coming to mind that maybe made her feel better, but she really couldn’t tell.. “Things happen for a reason.. even if it’s hard to understand why.. It’s clear you didn’t mean for this to happen, so you don’t need to say you’re sorry, I’m sure no one is upset with you.”

Crystal hesitated a bit then added, “Maybe.. Maybe in some unknown way you’re doing him a favor. He’s been through a lot, especially lately.. Last I saw him, it didn’t really seem like he could handle much more.. Maybe his time asleep somewhere in there will be a good thing.. I just feel bad that you have to endure a difficult situation too..”

Boreas actually remembered how Fiona's diary started. The whole Aerasnova family had pitched in and put together little notes and stories for Fiona to remember while she was at the Shadow Hunter school.

As he went on, Boreas noticed how a lot of Fiona's /actual/ time at the school was missing, other than a particular picture and some scattered notes on school-related topics... Some odd ones included. He could piece together a little bit of why that could be.

But before he knew it, the Captain was already at his niece's meeting with the Keyhunters. One thing he found interesting was the fact that she seemed to have a page on each member and at least her early thoughts on them. Some of what he read made him smirk a little...

...Meanwhile, the actual author of the diary had stopped flopping around... Because she was partially waking up again.
Kind of. She needed a minute to get there. Her noises didn't though.

The red king wasn't expecting that reply and he started at the girl, those who talked with him didn't seem Mad with him even though he wasn't there friend, yes they all were very concerned about there friend but they seemed sad about him to, which confused him but at the same time it brought a kinda of relief to, especially when the weight of him doing something wrong hung over him...

The red king blinked and then looked down in thought. Could he really help in that way? It didn't seem like he was capable in being useful in any way, he was just a voice no one could hear... but that wasn't true, it was something that was difficult for the red king to grasp, could he actually do anything good?..." I... I know the Bellezzas had helped him sleep... even now I can feel your friend and the demon but he is at peace..."after saying this the red king looked up at the girl again, she had kind but sad eyes, she looked so familiar " .... do you mind if I ask a question of you?" He asked softly as if just asking this was rude or not allowed

Weaver's eyes widen with curiosity when Malice presents his other wing, and he takes a good look at his star, and the other stars around his. His concern is raised again when the Nightmare King mentions how other stars have started acting up, and Catch throws out his suggestion, and he considers more if there truly are other Dreamers out there, trapped in their own bodies... Then, his concern turns a little more inward as Malice mentions Eater's lack of sleep possibly driving him insane and dying; finally, his hopeful spirit is dashed a little with the confirmation of his fears. //... I had a feeling... I knew I'd have nightmares of that... I decided not to ask though because I didn't want another thing weighing on Catch, but, well... Maybe in some ways, I didn't want to know for sure, either... I guess at this point, there's no beating around the bush anymore...// he thinks, looking down at his left arm. As he stays quiet, and then as he's going to start talking again, he carefully lifts arm up and holds it with his right hand, fidgeting with it some to see if it still hurts or not. "... So, pretty much... Eater's going insane and may end up dying from not sleeping... Or, insomnia, I guess would be the word... I mean, it's been a whole year, and he hasn't slept a wink. But if he does go to sleep... If /I/ go to sleep... I'll reconnect to you, Eater will get stronger, and I'll have to relive... the night I turned..." he pauses briefly. "... But it'll be even worse than that, won't it, Malice? Since I ended up in Void's heart, I didn't feel all of that, I had to watch and listen, but I wasn't there... But Eater remembers, he knows exactly what it was like... So I'll have to experience it how he remembers it, huh, I'll feel what he felt...?"